Wednesday May 16, 2012

Committee nod for ‘one oral query per rep’ move for assembly

JOHOR BARU: The number of oral questions posed by each
state assemblyman at the Johor state assembly has been reduced to only
one instead of six previously.

The decision was made during the Johor state assembly's standing orders committee meeting held in Terengganu recently.
It
is learnt that the proposal would have to be approved by the state
executive council before its implementation in the state assembly.
The
Johor state assembly has at least four sittings, including six days
after the opening, another six days for the budget and two one-day
sittings.
It is learnt there have been proposals for questions
which were not answered to be struck off and not converted into written
questions.
Also scrapped is the proposal for the assembly speaker to reject questions he feels are inappropriate or irrelevant.The Star had
reported that the Johor state assembly might consider limiting the
number of verbal and written questions which a member of the House could
ask.
Meanwhile, Maharani assemblyman Dr Mohamad Taslim, who is the sole Opposition assemblyman in the committee, said he did his best to bring up the Opposition's views.
“Anyway
the oral questions are not a big loss because we still have written
questions,” he said, adding that previously an assemblyman was able to
ask six oral and five written questions.
Dr Mohamad said the
state government had always tried to curtail the Opposition since the
2008 election, as the committee had met three times to make changes,
including limiting each question to 40 words and only giving assemblymen
answers to their questions instead of compiling and giving out the
answers to everyone.
Semarang assemblyman Datuk Samsol Bari Jamali said the Opposition always jumped the gun and made wild allegations against the government.
“The
state government is not trying to curtail the Opposition's role in
asking questions,” he said, adding that the meeting in Terengganu
proceeded smoothly without any problem.
“I also noticed that the
DAP assemblyman (Ng Lam Hua - Mengkibol) did not turn up for the state
asembly rights and powers committee meeting, which was held at the same
time in Kuala Terengganu, unlike his PAS counterpart,” he said.